Tile Installation

ABSTRACT

A tile installation method and associated device comprised of a tile and any of several types of pins assemblies and spacer assemblies. The tile has a peripheral edge with any of bores, grooves and/or slots that are adapted to mate with the pin assemblies and spacer assemblies. A portion of the pin assemblies or spacer assemblies are inserted into each adjacent tile peripheral edge connecting adjacent tiles and ensuring that the top surfaces remain level. A spacer may be provided on both the spacer assembly and pin assembly ensuring a uniform gap between adjacent tiles. The spacers assemblies and pin assemblies are permanently embedded and concealed with the grout.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to architectural and construction tiling, and more particularly, to a method and device to ensure level tile installation with uniform grout lines and improved strength characteristics over traditional tile laying.

2. Description of the Related Art

Several designs for tile installation devices and methods have been designed in the past. None of them, however, includes a structure and method to attach tiles edge to edge and/or corner to corner that simultaneously accurately levels the surface of adjoining tiles and provides consistent grout lines and may speed the installation process.

Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 8,671,628 issued to Sighinolfi. However, it differs from the present invention because Sighinolfi may aid in leveling tiles but files to provide for maintaining accurate and consistent spacing of adjacent tiles in combination with holding tiles together.

The connecting of adjacent tiles as is done in the present design and method has important advantages including improving the bond strength because adjacent tiles lend strength to each other rather than relying only on the adhesive or mortar directly behind or under that tile. The same benefits also allow an installer to immediately grout between the tiles because the tiles are fixed in place upon installation thereby reducing labor costs and time needed to install.

Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one of the main objects of the present invention to provide a system and device for more efficient and precise laying of tile.

It is another object of this invention to provide a tile laying method and device that is suited to improve both experienced and novice tile setters.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a way to aid installers of tile to achieve a perfectly flat surface with consistent grout lines.

It is another object of the invention to secure tiles to a surface more securely than has been done in the past.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide such a device and method that is inexpensive to manufacture, use and maintain while retaining its effectiveness.

Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With the above and other related objects in view, the invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents a perspective view of a tile assembly with an optional spacer assembly and several optional pin assemblies.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a version of a spacer assembly.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a variant of a spacer assembly.

FIG. 4 is a representation of a perspective view of a variation of a pin assembly.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a type of pin assembly.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a tile assembly.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of two partial adjacent tiles.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of an example of several tiles installed together.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Traditional tile laying has for many years consisted of preparing a smooth substrate then applying mortar or another adhesive and laying the tiles out over the substrate in particular fashion. A problem has been noted by many that tiles are not easy to space, arrange or level without specific aids. In the past, spacers have been used that keep adjacent tiles spaced during curing of the mortar. Typically the spacers are then removed prior to application of a grout or other filler to fill the resulting gaps between the tiles.

Some tiles have protrusions around the edge of the tile to aid in managing the spacing between tiles with limited success. Problems of this system include that it sets a minimum gap but not a maximum gap. The gap is not held in place. Also, adjacent tiles are not connected so they cannot share the benefit of each other's adhesion to the substrate below the tiles.

This can become important, for example, if the substrate or mortar under one tile fails. Using traditional installation means and methods that tile is at risk of failing and becoming detached from the substrate. Conversely, even if one tile using the present system becomes at risk of detachment from the substrate directly below the tile will not fail because it is also held in place by attachment to the other tiles that share an edge with that tile.

Referring now to the drawings, where the present invention is generally referred to with numeral 10, it can be observed that it basically includes a tile assembly 12 and a spacer assembly 14. Selected sub-components of the several variations of the elements include, among other features, a surface 16, a pin 18, bores 20, slots 22, an edge 24, an edge 26, a spacer 28, a surface 30, an edge 32, a spacer assembly 34, a spacer 36, a surface 38, an edge 40, a pin 42, a pin 44, a spacer 46, a tile assembly 48, a surface 50, bores 52, a groove 54, an edge 56 and grout gaps 58.

Looking at FIG. 1, an example of a tile assembly 12 is shown. Also demonstrated in this figure are several types of pins 18 & 44 and a version of a spacer assembly 14. One tile assembly 12 is shown in this example but in a typical installation many tiles could be adhered to a common substrate surface.

Generally in this tile assembly 12 version a series of bores 20 are located about the periphery of the tile on the edge 24, edge 26 and the unseen (in this view) edges. The bores 20 each have a predetermined diameter and depth to correspond to the diameter and length of pins 18 or 44 or other style of pin.

A pin 18 is inserted into a bore 20 prior to installation. During the installation, after the mortar or other adhesive is applied to the substrate, adjacent copies of the tile assembly 12 are aligned by insertion of a pin 18 into the corresponding bore 20 on the adjacent tile assembly 12. Essentially the pin 18 is inserted about half way into the bore 20 of each tile, less the distance of the grout gap spacing.

The tile assembly 12, or other iterations of tile assemblies within the scope of this invention, are fabricated including any of the slots 22 or bores 20. The tile assemblies 12 may have these features included prior to firing or curing of the tile material itself. For some materials and applications it may also be possible to cut these features into a tile assembly later in the process of manufacture.

Generally, the slots 22 are only made deep enough to full accept a corresponding spacer assembly such as the spacer assembly 14. Similarly, the bores 20 only need be sufficiently deep to accept the corresponding pin, such as the pin 18 or pin 44.

A spacer assembly 14, or one of the other variations of spacers, can also be used with or instead of the any of the pin styles. In at least one version of the tile assembly 12 there may be only slots 22 and no bores 20. In an alternate version there could be bores 20 and no slots 22. Similarly, the number and positioning of the bores 20 and slots 22 may vary from a style of tile to another. Generally all tiles in a batch of tiles will have the same configuration so that the tiles from that batch are compatible with each other.

FIG. 2 shows a version of a spacer assembly 14. In typical use during installation the edge 32 is inserted in the slot 22 on one tile assembly, such as the tile assembly 12 shown in FIG. 1. About a quarter of the spacer assembly 14 is inserted into a corner of a tile assembly. Adjacent tile assemblies at an intersection of tiles would receive the other quarters of the spacer assembly 14. The spacer assembly 14 can be broken into multiple pieces if the connection is between less than four adjacent tiles at one intersection.

The spacer 28 is raised from the surface 30 so that the spacer 28 cannot enter into the slot 22 on a tile assembly. The spacer 28 would remain between the edges of adjacent tiles and would define the spacing between adjacent tiles. The width of the spacer 28 defines the width of the grout line between adjacent tiles. The width of the spacer 28 can be selected for a particular tile installation. For a typical home tile installation the width of the spacer 28 could be from about an eighth inch to about an inch. These measurements are merely typical guidelines and the width could be any size that the installer wants to make a grout gap between adjacent tiles. In some cases the spacer 28 may not be present at all if the installer does not want the spacer assembly 14 to define the grout lines or for use with no or minimal grout such as might be needed with an edge justified type of tile product.

FIG. 3 shows a version of a spacer assembly 34 that is used in similar fashion as to the version of spacer assembly shown in FIG. 2 and described above. This spacer assembly 34 is compatible with the tile assembly 12 shown in FIG. 1 as well as the tile assembly 48 shown in FIG. 6. The width of the spacer 36 is about equal to the width of a grout gap desired. For many tile jobs a consistent grout gap for the whole job is common. An installer of tile would likely select a bag of spacer assemblies 34 each having the same spacer 36 width to make the entire tile installation with equally sized grout gaps for a uniform appearance of the completed job.

The height of the spacer assembly 14 or spacer assembly 34 is, in at least one embodiment, shallow enough that when installed in a slot 20 or groove 54 the top of the spacer 36 or spacer 28 does not extend above the surface 16 or surface 50 of the respective tile assemblies. When grout is applied between the tiles then the spacer assembly 14 or spacer assembly 34 the spacer assembly used will be permanently buried beneath the grout where they will continue to lend support to the tile work as a whole by connecting adjacent tiles.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show variations of pin assemblies. The version in FIG. 4 does not include a spacer on the pin 18 and therefore could be used with other means to set the grout gap or for edge justified tiles where little to no grout gap is desired. The version shown in FIG. 5 includes a spacer 46 between pin 42 and pin 44. Pin 42 would be inserted into a bore 20 or 52 on one tile and pin 44 would be inserted into a bore 20 or 52 on an adjacent tile with the spacer 46 between the tiles. The spacer 46 has a width equal to the desired grout gap. A uniform width of spacer 46 would be used throughout an entire field of tile.

The width of the spacer 46 would typically be the same as the width of spacer 28 if spacer assembly 14 is used with the spacer 46, or spacer 36 if the spacer assembly 34 is selected by the installer.

The types of pin assemblies shown generally in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be used alone or in combination with the spacer assemblies shown in FIG. 2 or 3. Conversely the spacer assemblies in FIG. 2 or three may be used alone without a pin assembly. It is more important that the spacer width of any style of these connectors be the same to provide a uniform grout gap in any give tile installation job.

FIG. 6 shows a tile assembly 48 that has a series of bores 52 about a peripheral edge 56. A groove 54 is also present around the peripheral edge 56. This configuration may be advantaged when used in a tile pattern that does not have four corners of tile meet at one point. The groove 54 will always be aligned with a groove 54 on an adjacent tile regardless of how the tiles are geometrically configured. The bores 52 may be present in conjunction with the groove 54 or instead of the groove 54 or the groove 54 may be present without the bores 52.

FIG. 7 is a close-up partial view of how pins and spacers could be used in concert to secure the edges of adjacent tiles assemblies 12 relative to each other. In this case, as would be typical, the tile assemblies 12 are substantially identical copies of each other. The pin 42 is inserted into a bore 20 on the edge of one tile assembly 12 with the spacer 46 outside of the bore defining a grout gap 58 width. The pin 44 is inserted into a corresponding bore 20 on the adjacent tile assembly 12 locking the two tiles at the same height so that the surfaces are coplanar and with uniform spacing defined by the spacer 46. The spacer 28 has the same width as the spacers 46 so consistent spacing is maintained. The surface 30 of the spacer assembly is inserted into the slot 22 of the tile assembly, further reinforcing the relative positions of the adjacent tiles.

FIG. 8 is a field of tile assemblies 12 with the grouted grout gaps 58. The grout gaps 58 are uniform throughout this installation, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing tile job. Since each of the tile assemblies 12 are connected to adjacent tile assemblies 12 by means of the pins and spacers buried in the grout, the overall installation is highly stable and robust. None of the spacers or pins are visible because they are concealed in the edges of the tile assemblies 12 and under the grout filling the grout gaps 58 between the tile assemblies 12.

A version of the invention can be fairly described as a tile installation method comprised of a first tile, a second tile and a spacer assembly. The first and second tiles have an upper surface that is a show side, a bottom surface that adheres to a substrate and a peripheral edge around the tile. The peripheral edge includes a groove or a slot between the upper surface and the lower surface. The groove or slot has a predetermined height across the thickness of the edge. The spacer assembly has a spacer and a surface. The spacer assembly surface has a thickness dimensioned to fit into the height of the groove or slot. The spacer assembly spacer is has a thickness dimensioned larger than the height of the groove or slot so that the spacer cannot fit into the groove or slot yet remains between adjacent tiles to fix a specific special distance between the tiles. The spacer assembly spacer has a predetermined width equal to a predetermined grout gap. The spacer assembly remains below the upper surface when inserted into the groove or slot so that it can be covered and hidden by later applied grout. The spacer assembly fits into a slot or groove on the first tile so that the spacer contacts the peripheral edge of the first tile and the spacer fits into a corresponding slot or groove on the second tile so that the spacer contacts the peripheral edge of the second tile and keeps the spacing consistent. The first and second tiles are adhered to a substrate.

The invention can be fairly described as a tile installation method comprised of a first tile, a second tile and a pin assembly. The first and second tiles have an upper surface, a bottom surface and a peripheral edge around the tile. The peripheral edge includes a bore between the upper surface and the lower surface. The bore has a predetermined diameter. The pin assembly has a spacer and a pin. The pin assembly has a diameter dimensioned to fit into the bore. The pin assembly spacer is has a thickness dimensioned larger than the diameter of the bore so that the spacer cannot fit into the bore. The pin assembly spacer has a predetermined width equal to a predetermined grout gap. The pin assembly remains below the upper surface when inserted into the bore. The pin fits into a bore on the first tile so that the spacer contacts the peripheral edge of the first tile and the pin fits into a corresponding bore on the second tile so that the spacer contacts the peripheral edge of the second tile. The first and second tiles are adhered to a substrate.

The foregoing description conveys the best understanding of the objectives and advantages of the present invention. Different embodiments may be made of the inventive concept of this invention. It is to be understood that all matter disclosed herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense. 

1. A tile installation method for leveling the tile installation with uniform grout lines between a plurality of tile assemblies, comprising; providing tile assemblies having an upper surface, a bottom surface and a peripheral edge around the tile, said peripheral edges includes a groove or a slot between the upper surface and the lower surface of a predetermined height; providing a spacer assembly having quarters, said quarters having a thickness dimensioned to fit into the height of the groove or slot; providing spacer assembly having a spacer, said spacer has a thickness dimensioned larger than the height of the groove or slot so that the spacer cannot fit into the groove or slot, and a predetermined width equal to a predetermined grout gap; arranging the tile assemblies corresponding to each other such that the spacer assembly remains below the upper surface when inserted into the groove or slot; fitting a quarter area of spacer assembly into a slot or groove of corresponding tiles so that the spacer fits into the corners of corresponding tiles; and adhering the tiles to a substrate.
 2. A tile installation method for leveling the tile installation with uniform grout lines between a plurality of tile assemblies, comprising; providing tile assemblies having an upper surface, a bottom surface and four peripheral edges around the tile, said peripheral edges includes a bore between the upper surface and the lower surface of a predetermined diameter; providing a pin assembly having a pin, said pin assembly has a diameter dimensioned to fit into the bore; providing a pin assembly having a spacer, said spacer has a thickness dimensioned larger than the diameter of the bore so that the spacer cannot fit into the bore and a predetermined width equal to a predetermined grout gap; arranging tiles corresponding to each other such that the pin assembly remains below the upper surface when inserted into the bore and fits into a bore on the first tile so that the spacer contacts the peripheral edge of the first tile and the pin fits into a corresponding bore on the second tile wherein, the spacer contacts the peripheral edge of the second tile; attaching each tile with corresponding four adjacent tiles through pins; and adhering the tiles to a substrate.
 3. The method as recited in claim 1, farther comprising: applying grout between the grout gaps and permanently burying the spacer assembly beneath the grout.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the spacer assembly can be broken into multiple pieces if the connection between less than four adjacent tiles is required.
 5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein various desired grout gaps can be provided by choosing spacer assembly of desired spacer width.
 6. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the predetermined width of the spacer lies between an eighth inch to one inch.
 7. A method as recited in claim 2, farther comprising: applying grout between the grout gaps and permanently burying the pin assembly beneath the grout.
 8. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein various desired grout gaps can be provided by choosing pin assembly of desired spacer width.
 9. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the predetermined width of the spacer lies between an eighth inches to one inch.
 10. A system for installation of tiles comprising: a plurality of tile assemblies, the plurality of tile assemblies having upper surfaces, bottom surfaces and peripheral edges, the peripheral edges consist of a groove or a slot between the upper surface and the bottom surface of a predetermined height; and a spacer assembly, the spacer assembly has a spacer and quarters, the quarters have a thickness dimensioned to fit into the height of the groove or slot and the spacer have a thickness dimensioned larger than the height of the groove or slot such that the spacers have a predetermined width equal to a predetermined grout gap and the spacer assembly remains below the upper surface when inserted into the groove or slot.
 11. A system as recited in claim 10, farther comprising: applying grout between the grout gaps and permanently burying the spacer assembly beneath the grout.
 12. A system as recited in claim 10, wherein the spacer assembly can be broken into multiple pieces if the connection between less than four adjacent tiles is required.
 13. A system as recited in claim 10, wherein various desired grout gaps can be provided by choosing spacer assembly of desired spacer width.
 14. A system as recited in claim 10, wherein the predetermined width of the spacer lies between an eighth inches to one inch. 